dickey



C. T. DICKEY.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING WATERPROOF FELT.

APPLICATION FlLED JULY 23. E5315.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

IN ENYCOR. m 7

A TTOR NE Y C. T. DICKEY.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING WATERPROOF FELT.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23,1915.

1,3 1 5,763. Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

FIG?) FIG/l ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES T. DICKEY, OFELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB T0 JOHN J. VOOBHEES,.

m, 01 JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

' Specification of Lctters latent.

Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

Application filed July 23, 1915. Serial No. 41,475.'

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES T. DIGKEY, a citizen of the United States, residin at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and tate of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Producing'Waterproof Felt, of which the following, taken in connection with the acoompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and concise description thereof.

The present invention relates enerally to improvements in waterproof fabrics and methods of producing the same and more specifically to a waterproof felt and the production thereof.

Numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made to produce a satisfactory and serviceable waterproof felt, which could be employed as a substitute for leather in the production of soles for shoes, in manu facturing suit cases, trunks and the like. All of these attempts have been unsuccessful by reason of the fact that the means employed for treating the felt have been more or less complicated, making their use from an economic manufacturing standpoint impracticable. Furthermore, the resultant products of these methods have been found to be unsatisfactory in many respects for the reason that the felt has lost its inherent characteristics to a considerable degree and.- did not possess the durability and the waterproof qualities, which are the strongest essentials of a satisfactory commercial product.

The primary object of the present inventionis to overcome the disadvantages of the known methods of producing a waterproof felt and to provide a means, whereby the felt may be treated in an expeditious and economical manner, so that it will retain all of its inherent characteristics, while at the same time, it will possess great durability and be absolutely impervious to moisture, thus rendering the product produced b my invention adaptable for use as an e cient substitute for leather for all purposes, where practicable, and also enabling its employment for various other purposes where at present rubber, wood, cardboard and other fabrics are now used.

A further object of my invention is to treat the felt or similar fabric by a vacuum process, wherein the various steps may be performed with despatch and the fabric impregnated with the waterproofing material 01' compound, so that it will unite or commlngle with the fibers of the fabric and become an integral part thereof, adding ma terlally to the durability of the fabric and adapting it for use for a multiplicity of purposes to which the unsatisfactory products heretofore referred to have been inapplicable.

Other objects and advantages of my inventlon such as its simplicity of operation, permitting the employment of practically unskilled labor, will become manifest'as the description proceeds and I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the precise details of structure illustrated or described, nor to the specific uses herein set forth, reserving to myself the full range of equivalents of my invention, to which I may be entitled in its broadest aspect.

I shall now proceed to describe my invention with re erence to the accompanying drawings and then point out with more particularity, the essential elements of novelty therein.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus employed by me.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in section of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Fi 3 represents a section of the fabric or fe t before treatment; and

Fig. 4 represents the fabric shown in Fig. 3 subsequent to waterproofing.

Referring now to the drawings in detail,

in which like characters of reference are employed to designate similar parts throughout the several views, 7 represents a rectangular sheet of felt of approximately a quarter of an inch in thickness prior to its treatment by my improved process. A number of these sheets of raw felt 7 are placed within the container 8, the interior of which is provided with the preferably spirally ar ranged screen 9, supported from the annular band 10 mounted on the standards 11 provided with the foot or extended portions 12, which are rigidly secured to the ring 12" to form a base resting upon the bottom of the container.

The convolutions of the spiral screen 9 are s aced a art, so as to receive the sheets of fe t there tween and maintain them out of contact with each other to facilitate the securing or locking nuts 17 on the hinged clamping members 15, the shanks of the latter being seated within the recesses 16 provided on the edge of the periphery of said lid. or closure 13. i

The reference character 18 indicates a preferably cylindrical tank for containing the waterproofing material, preferably rubber, which is in a liquid state and of the proper consistency for obtainingthe object of my invention in an efficient manner. Connected to the base of the tank 18 is an outlet pipe 19 having an elbow 20 communicating with the pipe 21 provided with the valve 22. The pipe 21, as will be observed, is coupled at 23 to one end of a pipe 24 provided with a valve 25 located in proximity to its other end, which latter end is connected by a suitable coupling and elbow, shown at 26, to the interiorly threaded bore of the boss 27 formed on the closure or lid 13, the lower-end of the coupling communicating with the interior of the container 8, as shown in Fig. 1.

When the fabric has been placed within the container, the latter is hermetically sealed by means of the lid or closure 13, as previouslyexplained, and a vacuum is created within the container by the operation of an exhaust pump (not shown) connected by means of the pipe line 27 to the vacuum tank 28, the latter communicating with the interior of the container through the pipe line 29, which has a flexible connection 30 with the pipe 31 mounted on the closure or lid 13 and leading to the interior of the con-- tainer as shown at 32 in Figs. 1 and 2, com-- munication between the tank 28 and the container being controlled by the valve 29*.

It is obvious that when the air has been exhausted from the container 8 and from proofing material, the latter backs up through the pipe 31 and its connection through pipe 29, into the vacuum tank 28, the level of the material being visible within the gage glass 33. The valve 25 is thereupon closed and after a short period of time, the flexible connection 30 is uncoupled from the pipe 29 and coupled or connectedto the pipe 34 provided with the valve 35, the pipe 34 communicating with a pump or compressor of any suitable type (not shown). The valve 36 in the pipe line 37 leading from the bottom of the container 8 and discharging into the tank 18 through the nozzle 38 is then opened, whereby the waterproofing material under the pressure of the pump or compressor is forced through the pipe line 37 back into the tank 18. When all of the waterproofing material has been thus removed from the container, any residue remaining is permitted to flow out through the pipe 39 by opening the valve ll) located therein, the residue in the tank 28 being similarly removed by opening the valve 41 carried by the pipe 42.

At the conclusion of the operation ust de scribed the flexible connection 30 is uncoupled from the pipe line 3 L and the pipe 24: disconnected from the pipe 21, after which the lid or closure 13 is unlocked and thrown back upon its hinges in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1. The impregnated fabric may then be removed from within the convolutions of thescreen after which pressure is applied thereto to compress the sheets to a thickness of approximately three-sixteenths of an inch, as shown in Fig. 4, when they are submitted to a drying process. The sheets may "then be packed for shipment or employed for such purposes as may be desired.

In carrying my invention into efi'ect, any suitable vulcanizing process may be used and any means which will operate satisfactorily may be employed for applying the requisite pressure to compress the sheets to the desired degree. As will be noted in the embodiment shown, the tank 18, which contains the waterproofing material, is mounted in a plane above the top of the container 8, and is supported in any suitable manner, such as by means of beams 43, shown in Fig. 1. By this method, it is obvious that the "Waterproofing material will gravitate toward the interior of the container 8, when the valves 22 and 25 are opened, as heretofore explained. However, I do not limit myself to this particular arrangement, since, it is apparent that the waterproofing material may be forced into the container under pressure and that the tank may be located in any desired position relative to the container; also, that the various components of my invention may be changed in details of structure and in their relative arrangement without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

' Having thus described m invention, what I claim as new herein an desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an apparatus for producingwater- -proof felt, the combination of a container anterns having a spiral screen mounted therein, the convolutions of the spiral being sup 'orted, so as to bc separated one from the ot ier, to provide a support for the felt, means for hermetically sealing the container, means for creating a vacuum therein and means for impregnating the felt with a water-proofing material in the vacuum within said container.

In an apparatus for water-proofing' felt, the combination of a container, a spiral screen positioned therein, the convolutions of said screen being spaced apart whereby the sheets of felt tobe treated will be sep arated, one from the other, means for hermetically sealing the container, a vacuum tank communicating with said container and adapted to function to create a vacuum within said container, a tank for the water-proofing material communicatin with said container and means for controlling the admission of the water-proofin material to said container whereby the fe t will be impreg nated with said waterproofing material in the vacuum within said container.

3. In an apparatus for waterproofing fabric, the combination of a container l1aving a spirally-arranged screen located there.- in, the convolutions of the spiral being spaced apart whereby the fabric may be inserted therehetween, means for hermeti cally sealing the container, means for creating a vacuum within the container, means for supplying the water-proofing material to the interior of the container and means for expelling the water-proofing material from the container under pressure.

4;. In an apparatus for waterproofing felt, the combination of a container having a screen located therein, one portion of the screen being spaced apart from another whereby the fabric may be inserted therebetween, means for hermetically sealing the container, means for creating a vacuum with in the container, means for admitting waterproofing material to the container, and

means for expelling the waterproofing material from the container under pressure.

5. ln an apparatus for producing waterproof felt, the combination of a container, means for hermetically sealing said container, a plurality of partitions arranged within said container and adapted to sup port sheets of felt therein whereby said sheets of felt will be spaced one from the other, means communicatin with the interior of said container for ex lausting the air therefrom to create a vacuum, whereby interstices will be formed between the fibers of the fabric, means for admitting a waterproofing material to the interior of said container for impregnating the fabric and means for withdrawing the water-proofing material from said container at the conclusion of the impregnating operation.

fl. lln an apparatus for producing waterproof felt, the combination of a container having a supporting device arranged therein, the parts thereof being so positioned relatively to each other as to receive and support a plurality of sheets of felt within said eontainer and out of contact with each other, means for hermetically sealing the container, means for creating a vacuum within the container, and means for impregnating the felt with a water-proofing material while in the vacuum.

7. In an apparatus tor-producmg waterproof felt, the combination of a container,

means for hermetically sealing said container, a supporting device arranged within said container, said supporting device en1- bodying a plurality of supporting surfaces spaced from each other and ada ted to receive a plurality of sheets of fe t so as to maintain the individual sheets out of contact with each other, means for creating a vacuum in said container, and means for impregnating the felt with a water-proofing material while in the vacuum.

CHARLES T. 'DICKEY. 

